JM: Did you find it difficult to get along with other inmates? Please give examples to explain why you did or didn't.Shawanda Miller: Sometimes. I generally ignored most of them and
pretty much kept to myself. Some would just
like to run there mouths.Jeremy: Not really, didnt get a chance to interact with
anyone! There were a couple of drunks and crazies
there but they were locked up in single cells.Chuck: No. Not really.Charles: No, I didn't. I knew a lot of people in the jail
so I pretty much had friends when I went there.
Most people keep to themselves. That's what I did.Josh: I found it very difficult to get along with the other
inmates. How are you supposed to trust anybody when
you are locked in a box with a bunch of criminals. You
never know what they are in there for.

JM: What types of things did you have to do to avoid problems or fights with other inmates?Shawanda Miller: I never got into any fights nor had any problems
with the guards. Again I would just avoid most
inmates who ran there mouths or thought they
knew it all.Jeremy: Rule of thumb is NOT to ask people about their
charges! Do your OWN time! Each man does his own
time! Chuck: Sometimes it is unavoidable. Basically, mind your
own business, stay focused on what you're going
to do to get out, don't be come part of social
atmosphere, you can't start to like or dislike
the guards, don't start complaining. When you
loss focus on outside world and insted focus on
jail that's not going to help. Take advanatge of
classe and programs.Charles: Keep to yourself and don't get lippy with
anybody. Avoid all altercations if at all
possible because solitary confinement sucks. I
don't avoid any issues with inmates because when
those situations arise in an institution, if they
are not dealt with on the spot then they always
lead to a "problem".Josh: I mainly tried to act as crazy as possible. When
somebody would try talking to me id look at them real
crazy and tell them I was looking at ten years and they
usually laid off. I just kept telling people not to fuck
with me because I didn't care about getting into a fight.
Which was a lie. I didn't want to fight anybody. I also
knew a couple people from before jail so I just hung out
with those couple guys.

JM: Were you able to choose an inmate as your cellmate if you knew one? How often would your cellmate(s) change?Shawanda Miller: When they used to house females in Dakota
County, you would be in 1 block with maybe 1 or
2 people to a cell. Sometimes after you were
there for awhile, some guards would let you move
to a different cell. But at first, no you
weren't able to choose to bunk with.Jeremy: I only spent one night in a cell, my cellie was a
pretty cool kid. I dont really think you get to
choose? I mean we were all taken to our dorm at
the same time and then we were assigned a cell
and a bed(upper bunk or lower bunk!)Chuck: Not in most cases. You could send a kite (a
message) to one of the guards if you think your
cellmate is violent or you might not get along
with him. If there is room they might change you.Charles: No, I've never been able to choose a celly. My
celly would change I'd say on the monthly
average...once or twice and sometimes three but
generally once or twice. It would have been nice
to choose who to room with.Josh: I never got to pick who my cellmate was. My first cell
mate rubbed the deoderant all over the walls and tried
to fight me. I had to grab the guy by the wrists and
hold him there for about ten seconds explaining how I
did not want to fight him. After that I punched the wall
and my hand started to bleed. This was right after I got
out of the hole for 5 days. The guard was watching all
of this and I didn't know it he was making a round. He
saw my frustration and I explained how I didn't want to
fight him. I had about 5 different cell mates after that
and I would just try and draw and write and read to
avoid conversation. A few cell mates I had liked playing
chess which was cool. I drew up a lot of chess boards
and gave them away to a lot of inmates which got quite
a few people to like me.